


A New Spiral

by Splashy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Humanstuck, Mostly Roxy x Calliope, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, abusive Caliborn, other ships will be minor, shy and insecure Calliope, smol Calliope is smol, there will likely be mentions of abuse in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 03:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6549550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Splashy/pseuds/Splashy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of a girl who puts on a fake facade every day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Start

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look another fanfic because I clearly need to write more. It's not like I already have 2 to update pssh whaaat.  
> ...I've recently become obsessed with Calliope and felt the need to write a thing. Humanstuck, high school au. Because that seems to be all i can write.  
> Anyway enjoy this i guess. And do let me know if you like it.

Calliope walked through the halls of her new school, looking around. She had just transferred here not any longer than a week ago. This was the first time she had walked into the school. All the paperwork had been done earlier, so as soon as she was properly settled in, she began to start. It was a Wednesday.

As Calliope walked, she felt as if others were staring at her. Perhaps they were. It's not like she blended in. She was short, 4'8 and her hair was dyed white. She didn't really know why she decided to dye it white. She supposed it was because she didn't particularly like it's natural color, black. She'd been redying it whenever the black tips would start showing up. 

She felt like she was shrinking as more people began to stare at her. They were definitely staring at her. She was new. They would know that, wouldn't they? It was a small school. Of course they'd know. She was glad it was a small school, she didn't think she could handle a big one. Her old school was small, and she had a small group of friends. It had taken her forever to make those friends, and they were the ones who had initiated the conversation that led to them being friends years ago. She didn't know how she'd manage to make friends in this new school.

Calliope took a deep breath as she finally reached her class. English. She entered slowly, taking a look around. The bell was close to ringing, so most of everyone else was in the class. Their eyes all turned to hers. She swallowed and headed cautiously toward the teacher, who had turned his attention to Calliope. He smiled in what looked to be an attempt at a reassuring way. She was much too nervous for it to be reassuring to her. She managed to give a weak smile in return.

"Hello. You must be Calliope Umbra, yes?" Calliope nodded. "Excellent. You can go sit next to Roxy Lalonde, over by the window," her teacher pointed to a tall girl with blonde hair that curved upward. Calliope nodded again and began to make her way over toward the girl her teacher had pointed to. 

"Hey!" the girl, Roxy, said. She was waving in her direction, a big smile on her face. Calliope gave a small smile in return, murmuring a "hello" in response. "Oh my gosh, you are so tiny!" Roxy gushed, making Calliope freeze in her seat. She had been told she was tiny, and she knew she was. She looked in no way like a junior. She looked like she still belonged in elementary school. It was one of the things she hated most about herself. 

"Y-yeah..," she murmured quietly, looking down, fidgeting in her seat slightly. Roxy frowned.

"Hey, don't look so down! You're so cute, you shouldn't look sad! Your tiny-ness is just so adorable!" she practically squealed. Calliope blinked in surprise. Cute? Adorable? She hadn't ever been called those words. They felt foreign, foreign and wrong. Calliope continued to look down at her shoes, avoiding Roxy's gaze. The bell rang at that moment and the teacher began to start the class. She turned her attention to the teacher, Mr. Williams.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Roxy's frown deepen. She too looked at the teacher, no longer looking at Calliope.  
Great. She blew a potential friendship. Way to go, Callie.

Later on, the bell rang. Calliope hadn't talked to anyone since Roxy talked to her the last time, but she could just feel people staring and talking about her. She tried her hardest to ignore them, but it was hard. It was clear this was going to be just like her old school. Except this time, she doesn't have any friends.

She walked through the halls, toward her next class. Art. The only class she was really looking forward to. She walked a bit faster through the halls, wanting to get to the class as soon as she could. Before too long, she reached it. With a deep breath, she entered. 

She was a bit early. Just less than half of the class was there. Unless it was a small class. She hoped it was. The teacher directed her to her seat, where she sat. She waited for the bell to ring, staring at the door, wondering who all was in her class.

As someone stepped in, she felt herself freeze. It was Roxy. She was in both her first and second period classes. Roxy seemed to scan the room before they rested on her. Calliope quickly looked down, feeling her face begin to heat with embarrassment. She fidgeted in her seat a bit until she heard the sound of someone sitting to the seat next to her. Slowly, she looked up to see Roxy next to her, staring at her, the smile on her face more.

"Hey! I never really got the chance to properly introduce myself! I'm Roxy. Roxy Lalonde." The girl put her hand out, and Calliope cautiously took it, giving her a handshake. 

"C-Calliope. Calliope Umbra," Calliope whispered. She had to admit, she wasn't all that used to talking. Not that she would tell Roxy that. 

"So, Calliope, you're new here, aren't ye? I would know. I know like everyone here! I can easily tell when there's a new student." She still had that large grin on her face. How could one smile so freely, for so long? 

"Y-yeah, I moved about a week ago. Today's my first day."

"Well, I think you'll like it here at Skaia High! Most people are pretty nice, I've found. There are some who aren't, though. Just ignore anyone who is ever mean to ya!" Roxy seemed to smile even wider. Calliope smiled in return. It was a bit wider than her other smiles, but still rather small. 

As the class continued, Roxy and Calliope began to talk more. Well, it was more like Roxy would talk, while Calliope listened. As the end of the class came, Calliope found herself being disappointed. She liked listening to Roxy, and wanted to stay here. Roxy was nice, and seemed perfectly content with talking while she listened. 

Maybe she had found a friend.


	2. End of the first day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo look a new chapter   
> This was written in school haha   
> I'll get to updating the davekat fic later ok-

One more class until lunch. She was dreading lunch. Who would she sit with? She’d end up sitting alone, definitely. Alone, or with people she didn’t know. People who would judge her. 

Well, that was nothing new.

Next class was science. She walked toward it, looking at the numbers of the classes as she passed them. Finally, she got to the class. She walked in and was directed to her seat. Looking around, she didn’t see anyone that she knew. Namely, she didn’t see Roxy or Caliborn.

As the bell rang, Calliope turned her attention to the teacher, Mrs. Schroeder. She was staring right at her, a smile on her face.

“Alright class, before we begin, I’d like to introduce our newest student, Calliope. Calliope, would you like to say a few things about yourself?” Oh god she was asking for her to introduce herself. Calliope gulped and stood. Her teacher beckoned for her to come up to the front of the class. She walked slowly, her heart filled with dread. Why was she doing this everyone was staring at her what if she stuttered…

“U-um…” Shit. People were starting to whisper amongst them. “I’m Calliope, I moved h-here about a week ago,” she managed to get out. Oh how she hated this. She could feel tears begin to prick at the corners of her eyes. 

“Why are you so short?” someone in the back called out. Calliope cringed, hoping it wasn’t too visible. She took a deep breath.

“Genetics,” she murmured. What else could she say? Surely, it’s obvious that it’s genetics. Unless they thought she was much younger than she actually was? That was definitely a possibility. Well, she hadn’t skipped any grades or anything. She was smart, sure, but not that smart. With that, she quickly scurried back to her seat and sat down, avoiding the gazes of others looking at her.

“Alrighty. Onto class,” her teacher said, turning her attention to the board, and with it, the attention of her students. Calliope breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody was looking at her, as far as she could tell. She quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeves, the few tears going away. She was _not_ going to cry her first day. Absolutely not. 

She kept her eyes on the clock, only half paying attention to the teacher. At one point, a paper was being passed out. She looked at it. It seemed simple enough. She began to work on it. She managed to finish it just as the bell rang. She put it on the stack of papers on the teacher’s desk and began to head to lunch. 

In the lunchroom, there were different lines that had different kinds of food. She picked a random line and went through it. It had mostly salads. Salads she could do. She grabbed one and made her way through the rest of the line. When she was finished, she began to look for somewhere to sit. She was about to head toward an empty table when someone called her name.

“Callie! Over here!” Turning, she saw Roxy, waving her hands over her head. She hesitated for a bit, before making her way over toward her. Roxy sat with 7 others. She sat next to Roxy and a girl who looked quite a bit like Roxy, except her hair was curved a bit differently. 

“Alright guys, this is the girl I told you about. I have first and second period with her!” Roxy beemed. “Ok, this is Calliope. Calliope, this is Rose,” she pointed to the girl that sat next to Calliope. Rose smiled, and murmured a “hello.” “Next to Rose is Kanaya, and then there’s Karkat, John, Dave, Dirk, and Jake.” She pointed to each one as she said their names. Different variations of hello greeted her.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

“Hi!”

“Sup.”

“Hey.”

“Hey there!”

She murmured a hello in response. 

After greetings, Calliope began to eat. She listened as Roxy talked to her friends. She was clearly very energetic, and loved talking. She eventually lost track of the conversation and turned her attention to her salad. Calliope picked at her food. She had to admit she wasn’t particularly hungry. Not that she ever was.

“Not hungry?” Calliope jumped as someone said something. She looked up and saw Rose staring at her, an eyebrow arched.

“N-no, not really,” she responded, looking back down at her food. Rose hummed before turning her attention back to Kanaya. 

Before long, the bell rang. Calliope rose and dumped her tray before heading off to class. Next up was math. She groaned. She did not like math one bit. She walked a bit slower than normal on her way to class, and only just made it in time. Her teacher directed her to her seat, and she sat down. Next to her, there was a girl with rather short hair, wearing a blue, almost spidery-like dress. She turned her attention to Calliope. 

“Oh, hello! You must be new. I can’t say I’ve ever seen you before. I’m Aranea,” the girl smiled.

“Calliope.”

“Well, Calliope, how do you like the school so far? How long have you been here, anyway?”

“It’s, uh, alright. I moved here about a week ago,” Calliope murmured. Aranea opened her mouth as if to say something, but the teacher cut her off.

“Aranea, Calliope, please be quiet and pay attention.” Calliope jumped in surprise and quickly turned around to focus her attention on the teacher. She could hear Aranea chuckle before turning to the teacher herself. She could feel the tips of her ears turning red in embarrassment. 

Calliope managed to pay attention to the rest of the class. The teacher was teaching a new math concept. She was able to get the hang of it.

Later, the bell rang. She rose and made her way to her last class, Geography. She was glad the school day was almost over. It was absolutely exhausting! She wasn’t really looking forward to going home though. It was nice being away from Caliborn for a change, but that wouldn’t last long.

Calliope entered the class and was directed toward her seat. She sat down, and after a brief look around, she saw someone she sat with at lunch. She was pretty sure his name was Jake. He sat to the left of her. She contemplated saying hi, but then thought against it.

‘Oh, hey! You’re Calliope, right?”

So much for that.

Turning, she saw Jake looking at her. “Uh, yeah. Y-you’re Jake, right?” She prayed that she hadn’t got his name wrong.

“Yep!” Jake said, grinning. 

“Alright, class. Time to get started,” the teacher said. Calliope and Jake turned their attention to the teacher.

Calliope had trouble paying attention. She found her thoughts drifting off towards Roxy. She was grateful that she had let her sit with her and her friends. Perhaps she would be able to have friends. Maybe this wouldn’t be quite so hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What kind of classes do juniors even have I do not know 
> 
> I am just a mere freshman 
> 
> Anyway I hope you all like this aha


	3. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight abuse mention in this chapter maybe?? 
> 
> Anyway, here's chapter 3. I was planning on updating both of my fics today but then I got lazy. Welp. Oh well, at least you have something, right? cx

Calliope found herself eyeing the clock as it neared the end of the day. She didn't want to go home, but she also didn't want to stay here. She never really liked school. The only way she was able to tolerate it was because of her friends. But now that she's moved, she hardly has any. She has Roxy, but she's really the only one she could call her friend at the moment.

Calliope sighed. Why did talking have to be so difficult? Why was making friends so hard? She laid her head on the table, eyes still on the clock. Her arms, covered with her sleeves-as they always are-were laid under her head. She glanced over at Jake and saw him texting someone. She didn't particularly care who, so she glanced back at the clock.

Finally, the bell rang, nearly jumping Calliope out of her skin. She quickly rose, grabbed her things, and headed out the door. She didn't have anything in her locker, so she began to head straight for the doors, where she would wait for Caliborn. On the way there, someone called her name. Turning, she saw Roxy hurrying to catch up. It didn't take long for her to catch up, since she was much taller than Calliope.

"Hey Callie!" Roxy said as she caught up, a grin on her face.

"O-oh, hi Roxy," Calliope murmured.

"Where ye headed?" she asked.

"Front of the school, by the doors. I have to meet my brother there," she sighed, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Oh, you have a brother? Cool! I just have a sister. A younger sister. She sat with us at lunch, she and her girlfriend. I wish I had a brother, though."  
"Oh, no you don't. Caliborn is a terrible person." She gave a slight shudder, barely concealed.

"Oh? How so?" Roxy looked at her curiously.  
"Well, uh, he's..." What could she say? Surely, she couldn't tell her the truth. There wasn't really much to say other than the truth, however. "He's just...terrible. Gets into fights a lot, and is...quite bothersome." By this point, Calliope and Roxy had walked outside and stopped near the doors. Roxy leaned against the wall while Calliope stood in front of her.

The two continued to talk for a bit until Caliborn showed up. He marched right over to Calliope and harshly grabbed her arm, pulling her over to his car. "Come on," he growled. 

"C-Caliborn! Must you hold on so tightly?" Calliope winced at the grip he had on her wrist. She couldn't get his hand off of her, however, as he was much stronger than she was. And also much taller. He towered over her, being more than a foot taller than she was. He was about 6'2. It was amazing how much taller he was compared to her. Also annoying.

"Yes. I must," Caliborn gave a low chuckle that was devoid of emotion. He practically shoved her against his car before opening the door on the driver's side and getting in. Calliope quickly opened the door and got in before he left her, something he had done numerous times previously. 

Calliope looked out the window and saw Roxy. She was staring right at her. The look on her face was a mixture of confusion and...concern? Was Roxy concerned for her? She gave a weak smile, and Roxy only furrowed her brows. After that, she couldn't see her anymore as Caliborn drove away.

 

When they got home, Calliope was quick to get out of the car. She walked to the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. Caliborn followed not long after. She went to her room and got her homework out. She sighed. She hated doing homework, but she knew she had to do it, so she began working. She managed to get it finished in 30 minutes. 

Glancing at the clock, she realized she only had about 20 minutes to get ready for her part-time job. She quickly put her homework away and changed into her work uniform. As she stepped into the living room, she saw Caliborn watching TV. 

"Have you started your homework yet?" she asked him as she began putting a jacket on and slipping on her shoes. Caliborn just waved her off, grunting. She sighed, but didn't press it any further. She opened the door, got outside, locked it, and then headed off toward her bike. Caliborn didn't like her using his car, and she didn't have one of her own. So she had to settle for a bike. 

She was lucky she had managed to find a job so soon. She started the day after they moved, having applied and been accepted earlier. It was a simple coffee shop, usually very quiet. They didn't get many customers, which was perfectly fine with Calliope. Upon arriving, she locked her bike on a fence nearby and walked inside, breathing in the fresh aroma of coffee. She soon got into place behind the counter and waited for someone to walk in.

A few customers later, and someone else walked in. It didn't take long for Calliope to realize it was Roxy. Roxy's face seemed to light up when she saw Calliope, and she quickly walked over.

"Calliope! I had no idea you worked here! I come here like every day after school. It is simply the best place ever." Roxy grinned. Calliope smiled in return. She then ordered coffee, and sat down as close to Calliope as she could. The two talked, even once Roxy got her drink.

"So, that guy was your brother? He's so tall, and you're so tiny! How on earth did that happen? Are you two the same age?" Roxy asked. 

"Yeah, he's my brother. I have no idea why he's so tall. Well, actually, I do. Our dad is very tall, while our mother is...not quite so tall, but she isn't that short either. And yes, we are the same age. Twins, actually." 

"Wow. Also, I can see why he's so terrible. That grip on your arm looked like it hurt! And the way he just dragged you and threw you against the car...Absolutely terrible!" Roxy sighed.

"I suppose. I guess one just gets used to it." Calliope shrugged like it was no big deal. And perhaps it wasn't. It's not like that's the first time he's done that. Hell, he does that every time!

"No one should have to get used to that! Are you sure you're alright? I don't want you getting hurt or anything. Someone really oughta show him that's not how you treat such a beautiful girl!" Roxy huffed, arms crossed. Calliope could feel her cheeks start to heat up.

"H-honestly, it's fine! I'm fine. I'm not getting hurt or anything. I'm just fine, alright?" Calliope quickly tried to reassure the girl.

"Calliope, are you sure you're alright? You're my friend, I don't want you getting hurt..."

"I'm sure. It's fine. He does stuff like that all the time, and it doesn't bother me. Hardly ever hurts. I may be small, but I'm still tough!" A lie, but what did it matter? It's not like she could tell her the truth!

Roxy sighed. "If you're sure..."

"I'm fine."


End file.
